As the battle ended rain began to come down, pouring over the city like a cleansing wash. No one moved. The drops splashing on them were refreshing, but they were too tired to move and their houses were destroyed. They should have gotten to work repairing all the damage that had been done, but instead, they slept. They had defended their new homes as best as they could and there was nothing more that could be done. The rain fell mixing blood and dirt together all night till only the bodies of the fallen remained.

In the morning of the next day people awoke sore from the cuts, bruises, and pure exertion. Some were in such a state that they couldn’t move a single muscle without feeling the sting of overworking themselves. Those that could get up and move went right to work, carrying the dead to an area outside the city to be buried. It was decided that it would take too much time to bury them in individual graves and they needed the wood to rebuild so they would place them in a mass grave which, at some later date, they would build a monument over to honor the dead that had sacrificed their lives so that others could continue to live.

The Apox that had increased in number were used to work day in and day out and they already had an idea with what to do to fix the wall. Before speaking with others they began to reconstruct the wall, but they integrated it into their hive so that when finished the hive would replaces the wall, wrapping around the entire settlement. It would stand higher and if anyone wanted to enter or exit they would have to be cleared by guards and it would provide a wall that would continuously be built up and repaired ultimately making a stronger wall than a normal stone wall even though it would be presently weaker.

The T`kata likewise used to working continuously began gathering up new resources and bringing them into the city while others that could move began cleaning the mess that was left after the battle. Piece by piece, the city was cleaned up. Day by day, the city was rebuilt back to what it was before the attack. Those who were injured healed over time and joined the ranks of builders and engineers. Soon, the city was in full swing and new improvements were being made frequently. It wasn’t a modern Human city, but within several months the city began to move through the ages of Human civilization as if watching a time lapse video starting out as a frontier village being built up ruins of the medieval ages to something resembling a city from the mid-1900s. More ARMS devices were brought in and turned into generators to provide electricity., but much of that new power was taken up by the new defense systems.

On the wall, built into the hive and maintained by the Apox, were gatling guns. Mya and Mittana, with the help of several engineers worked on reducing the power output so that it wouldn’t destroy the wall every time that it was fired. The first one took a few days to work modify, but after they got the first gun built the following ones were much quicker. They had to be bought or found and several dozen had to be built and installed around the city walls. For that, they had to travel to other settlements, but the supply couldn’t keep up, so the city’s gun manned gun tower defenses took more time than was anticipated to complete. Meanwhile, the land around the city underwent construction to remove trees in the way of farmland and irrigation systems which were fenced off to divide up plots for later distribution. These lands were defended by the guns on the wall, but also a moat around the city and another that was placed about a mile out from the wall.

With all the focus being put on defending the city the one command that Jason had gotten was ignored. No one had taken it upon themselves to build up an elevator. At first this wasn’t a problem, but individuals started running out of credits and had to start relying on bartering causing a second economy to start operating within the walls of the city. That was fine for the internal workings of the city, but they needed ARMS devices to keep improving their situation and those cost. With every ARMS device that they bought the amount of credits in the city’s market decreased. Then the fines for not heeding the call to the arena started building up which reduced the amount of capital they had to spend even faster.

The council evaluated the situation. They decided that the elevator to the arena was needed and so construction on the building designated for the elevator began. Soon after it was complete, but it was just an empty building. No one had any clue what to do next. The building was a large complex with registry and shops built into it. There were even several locations designated for elevators and each were attached to their own waiting room and medical facilities. The only problem was that each elevator was just an empty room and they didn’t know whether any of this would work. The construction was complete and they had done all they knew to do so they left it at that. It was there and all they could do is wait.

The next day, when Jason went to check, each of the elevators were in working order. He took one down and discovered that they were connected to a facility that was similar to the barracks but and its connection to the arena, but instead of a massive empty expanse it contained practice areas, chambers that could be rented out for individual use, a cafeteria, and a locked off area that he couldn’t figure out how to enter. Everything that he attempted failed. He was curious but he decided to leave it at that. He returned to the cafeteria to investigate it further. When he approached a counter near the entrance he had discovered a menu which is how he figured out that it was a cafeteria along with the fact that there were dozens of tables with benches around them like you would find at any highschool lunchroom. He searched through the selections that were available. To his surprise, there was a vast array of Human cuisine, but also it looked like he could switch between food from each of the civilizations that were present in his city. For a minute, he was attempted to try one of the meals available from the other civilizations to try an alien dish, but then he realized that he had been eating alien food almost exclusively for the last year and it had been ages since he had his favorite thing to eat; Scrolling through the menu, he found what he was looking for and ordered it.

A portion of the wall opened up revealing a large hawaiian pizza steaming with heat. Jason took it and sat at the closest table. He took it all in. The scent that it gave was familiar but some of a distant memory. It reminded him of how life was a year ago. He would never have imagined his life turning out anything like what it had, let alone becoming a leader of a city created by a coalition of alien species that were so different from each other on a planet that was both millena more advanced and centuries behind most of Human civilization. He took a slice. It was at that perfect place between being fresh out of the oven and cooled down enough to eat it. He took his first bite. The flavor exploded in his mouth. The flavors blended in ways he hadn’t recalled them doing in the past but what he was tasting was definitely the pizza that he remembered. Before he knew it the entire pizza disappeared into his stomach. With the last piece finished he leaned back in his chair and savored the feeling of being overstuffed. After about an hour of just sitting at the table another feeling started to creep into his consciousness. At first he wasn’t sure what it was, but he soon realized what he was feeling was that of being alone. He hadn’t been on his own since he had been on Debris.There was always someone with him, whether it was Rina or Xev or Gabi there was always some other sentient around him. For the first time in a year he could do anything he wanted and not be judged and just this knowledge relaxed and refreshed him. He wanted to stay there forever in peace, but he knew he couldn’t and after a while longer he began to feel bored.

Jason returned to the surface and went back to the world that his life had become. As soon as he got back to his office he informed Mittana and the council that the elevators are operational and the arena facility was ready to be staffed. Within hours it was fully staffed and ready to go, but few people came. Jason began to regularly fight in the arena, needing to make sure that credits and ARMS devices were able to be purchased. Rina against his desires started participating as well. She found it difficult at first, even got severely injured several times, but soon she learned how to fight and win. Though she was successful, she struggled with every match. This was because focused on equipping herself with ways to heal rather than ways to do damage. She had her fire magic, but other than that she just healed herself when needed and attacked using expertly placed fireballs.

Mittana, for her part, started issuing quests to explore the area and bring back information. Then from collected information she learned of the beasts that surrounded the city and of nearby dungeons, their difficulties, and generally what one would find when they entered and created missions to clear and bring back things that the city needed to keep itself safe or improve. The defenses grew and they were able to handle most threats that approached the city. Places where there were holes in the defense grid were protected by soldiers until they could be filled in with gatling cannons.

Eventually there were others that went to the arena. It was an easy way to get credits and some excitement. When they went they discovered the dorms and cafeteria with the menu that was full of amazing food dishes that they had never had before. Some of the dishes obviously came from their civilizations, but they hadn’t been part of them for generations. It was all new food to them and what wasn’t new food was prepared in unique ways they’d never experienced before. Ways that most of Debris couldn’t ever hope to make. Once this got out more and more people started going to the Arena. It began to be treated somewhat like an entertainment center. They’d grab some food and go watch people fight.

Jason had just finished a match in the arena when alert popped up in his VUI. All that it said was, “Welcome to Tier 2.” He raised an eyebrow at it before closing it and leaving the arena. That night, Xev knocked on his door. He opened the door surprised to see her. They hadn’t talked much since the battle with the Crita. She’d needed time to recover and he was busy building the city up. He welcomed her. She took his invitation and entered, taking a seat on the couch. He joined her sitting in a chair directly opposite of her.

“It’s been a while,” he said with a smile, remembering all the attempts she had made to seduce him.

“You reached Tier 2. We need to talk,” she said with a serious face.